Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data

The excerpt we read from the book Gang Leader For a Day was author Sudhir Venkatesh's account of his sociological study of how life was to be black and poor. Vanketesh, who had never really had an experience with impoverished blacks, naively started asking gang members multiple choice questions from generic surveys. But he was just laughed at when he asked the question "How does it feel to be young and black" with answer choices of very good, very bad, etc. After being forced to stay overnight with junior members of the gang, Vanketesh learned from their leader, J.T., that if he wanted to know anything about them he needed to just hang out. He went back for years to hang out and learn more about these people's lives. It is obvious that he learned a lot through his method because he went on to publish Gang Leader as well as other books concerning this topic.




This excerpt demonstrates the two types of data sociologists use in their studies. The first type, quantitative, can be found using surveys that one can compile to create statstics. The other type is called qualitative which comes from talking to people and observing situations. When I moved to this area, we decided we would pick our house depending on which school I chose to go to. So, my mom researched all the quantitative data she could find on the high schools in the north suburban area. She created a list of about ten schools with the best ACT scores, amount of advanced classes and activities I could get involved in. But once we had this list, it was impossible to choose a school just from that; we needed more information - qualitative data. So I came up to Chicago and for each school I shadowed a student from throughout her school day. I was able to experience the classes, talk to the people and really feel like I was a student at each school. Ultimately, this qualitative data helped me choose which school I would go to.